Profile
Name:Joel David Rifkin
Date of Birth: January 20, 1959
Nationality: United States of America
Area: East Meadow, New York
Sex: Male
Murder: assumed to kill 17 but only 9 are sure
Family: Born under two unmarried college students but adopted after three weeks of birth to Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin. Soon his sister was adopted to the family too.
Education: Prospect Elementary School, East Meadow High School, Nassau Community College , State University of New York at Brockport (political science)
Mental Disorder: Undiagnosed Dislexia
Past Crimes: Shop lifting soy sauce, soliciting a prostitute
Employment Record: merchant, clerk, camera repairmen, order picker, tape manager, lawn mower(unemployed)
Life Before Murder
Joel grew up under a very normal family. He did not suffer economically due to his father's stable job. His parents loved him very much until he started to show his identity. He was the one who was not able to fit in with his peers at school and was often a target of bullying. The reasons for bullying were is sloping posture and slow gait. However, despite his hard times fitting in he tried his best to fit in. He joined the track team and became a yearbook staff but he was tormented in those groups in many different ways. With an IQ of 128 he suffered to be successful academically which upset his father very much. It is known that Joel had a lot of scream fights with his father through out his life. As time passed he has said that he started to day dream about raping and stabbing women and that these were caused by anger towards the women who had humiliated him. His daydreams were motivated by Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Frenzy": fixated to strangling prostitutes. As Joel moved into College his interest towards prostitution increased drastically and he stolled down to Hempstead and Manhattan to shop prostitutes. During college he was known to skip a lot of classes, receive poor grades, and spend a lot of time with his prostitutes. As time passed his obsession drained money and made him move back in with his parent's house in the mid 80's. Soon a few years later,1987, his father committed suicide to end his pain of cancer. This incident drove him into depression which led his obsession into murder and violence...
Victim Profiles
1) "Susie" (1989)
- drug addict/ prostitute
- hit her with howitzer shell because she made him angry
- dismembered after murder (thrown out to various areas)
2) Julie Blackbird (1990)
- prostitute
- beaten up with a table leg
- left her body in the basement and later dismembered her body and put it in cement
- dropped her remains in the Hudson River
3) Barbara Jacobs (1991- July 13)
- prostitute
- beaten up with table leg and strangled
- body disposed in the Hudson River
4) Mary Ellen Deluca (1991- September 1)
- prostitute
- she told Rifkin she wanted to die
- strangled to death
- found in a rest stop in Cornwall
5) Yun Lee (1991)
- prostitute
- was strangle to death on their second meeting.
- body disposed in East River
6) Iris Sanchez (1992- April)
- 25 years old prostitute and crack addict
- Strangled her during relationship
- hid her in a mattress box and dropped her near JFK airport
7) Anna Lopez (1992 - May 25)
- 33 years old prostitute and cocaine addict
- strangled
- dropped in woods
8) Violet O'Neil (1992)
- 21 years old prostitute
- strangled her and dismembered her body in the bath tub
- disposed in various rivers surrounding Manhattan
9) Lorraine Orvieto (May-1992)
- prostitute
- strangled her to death and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Coney Island Creek
10) No Name/ "Jane Doe" (July-1992)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Newtown Creek
11) Mary-Ann Holloman (1992- July)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Coney Island Creek
12) No Name #2 (1992)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Harlem River
13) Jenny Soto (1992- November 16)
- prostitute
- fought back hard on Rifkin
- neck snapped
14) Leah Evans (1993- Feburary 27)
- 20 year old prostitute with two children
- strangled
- buried
15) Lauren Marquez (1993- April 2)
- 28 year old prostitute
- strangled
- deposited body at Suffolk County Pine Barrens.
16) Tiffany Brescani (1993- June 24)
- prostitute and heroine addict
- strangled
- wrapped with tarp and rope and left in car trunk
Method of Operation
Almost all of Rifkin's Victims were strangled to death and were disposed in various different ways. All of his victims were prostitutes.
Name:Joel David Rifkin
Date of Birth: January 20, 1959
Nationality: United States of America
Area: East Meadow, New York
Sex: Male
Murder: assumed to kill 17 but only 9 are sure
Family: Born under two unmarried college students but adopted after three weeks of birth to Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin. Soon his sister was adopted to the family too.
Education: Prospect Elementary School, East Meadow High School, Nassau Community College , State University of New York at Brockport (political science)
Mental Disorder: Undiagnosed Dislexia
Past Crimes: Shop lifting soy sauce, soliciting a prostitute
Employment Record: merchant, clerk, camera repairmen, order picker, tape manager, lawn mower(unemployed)
Life Before Murder
Joel grew up under a very normal family. He did not suffer economically due to his father's stable job. His parents loved him very much until he started to show his identity. He was the one who was not able to fit in with his peers at school and was often a target of bullying. The reasons for bullying were is sloping posture and slow gait. However, despite his hard times fitting in he tried his best to fit in. He joined the track team and became a yearbook staff but he was tormented in those groups in many different ways. With an IQ of 128 he suffered to be successful academically which upset his father very much. It is known that Joel had a lot of scream fights with his father through out his life. As time passed he has said that he started to day dream about raping and stabbing women and that these were caused by anger towards the women who had humiliated him. His daydreams were motivated by Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Frenzy": fixated to strangling prostitutes. As Joel moved into College his interest towards prostitution increased drastically and he stolled down to Hempstead and Manhattan to shop prostitutes. During college he was known to skip a lot of classes, receive poor grades, and spend a lot of time with his prostitutes. As time passed his obsession drained money and made him move back in with his parent's house in the mid 80's. Soon a few years later,1987, his father committed suicide to end his pain of cancer. This incident drove him into depression which led his obsession into murder and violence...
Victim Profiles
1) "Susie" (1989)
- drug addict/ prostitute
- hit her with howitzer shell because she made him angry
- dismembered after murder (thrown out to various areas)
2) Julie Blackbird (1990)
- prostitute
- beaten up with a table leg
- left her body in the basement and later dismembered her body and put it in cement
- dropped her remains in the Hudson River
3) Barbara Jacobs (1991- July 13)
- prostitute
- beaten up with table leg and strangled
- body disposed in the Hudson River
4) Mary Ellen Deluca (1991- September 1)
- prostitute
- she told Rifkin she wanted to die
- strangled to death
- found in a rest stop in Cornwall
5) Yun Lee (1991)
- prostitute
- was strangle to death on their second meeting.
- body disposed in East River
6) Iris Sanchez (1992- April)
- 25 years old prostitute and crack addict
- Strangled her during relationship
- hid her in a mattress box and dropped her near JFK airport
7) Anna Lopez (1992 - May 25)
- 33 years old prostitute and cocaine addict
- strangled
- dropped in woods
8) Violet O'Neil (1992)
- 21 years old prostitute
- strangled her and dismembered her body in the bath tub
- disposed in various rivers surrounding Manhattan
9) Lorraine Orvieto (May-1992)
- prostitute
- strangled her to death and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Coney Island Creek
10) No Name/ "Jane Doe" (July-1992)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Newtown Creek
11) Mary-Ann Holloman (1992- July)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Coney Island Creek
12) No Name #2 (1992)
- prostitute
- strangled and hid in an oil drum
- disposed at Harlem River
13) Jenny Soto (1992- November 16)
- prostitute
- fought back hard on Rifkin
- neck snapped
14) Leah Evans (1993- Feburary 27)
- 20 year old prostitute with two children
- strangled
- buried
15) Lauren Marquez (1993- April 2)
- 28 year old prostitute
- strangled
- deposited body at Suffolk County Pine Barrens.
16) Tiffany Brescani (1993- June 24)
- prostitute and heroine addict
- strangled
- wrapped with tarp and rope and left in car trunk
Method of Operation
Almost all of Rifkin's Victims were strangled to death and were disposed in various different ways. All of his victims were prostitutes.
http://www.biography.com/articles/Joel-Rifkin-11930477
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Rifkin
http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Rifkin,%20Joel%20-%202005.pdf